Method of producing seamless metal bottles and an apparatus for carrying the method



y 1965 R. LECHNER ETAL 3,196,819 METHOD OF PRODUCING SEAMLESS METALBOTTLES AND AN APPARATUS FOR CARRYING THE METHOD Filed Feb. 28, 1962 2Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGJ \FW k l wmmum Flo 3b INVENTORS Fade/f Zecfiner yFaye/7 #4935911? z TTOR/VZYS July 27, 1965 RLECHNER ETA L 3,196,819METHOD OF PRODUCING SEAMLESS METAL BOTTLES AND AN APPARATUS FOR CARRYINGTHE METHOD Filed Feb. 28, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4a

INVENTORS Rudolf Zecfine'f By Eager; Wzmsfioum ATTORNEYS United StatesPatent METHUD 0F PRODUCHNG SEAR HESS METAL BUTTLES AND AN APPARATUS FURCARRY- HNQG THE METHUD Rudolf Lechner, fingers, Hohentwiel, Germany, andEugen Nusshaum, Frauenfeld, Thur-gnu, Switzerland, assignors to RudolfLechner Kommanditgesellschaft, Singen, Hohentwiei, Germany, acorporation of Germany Filed Feb. 28, 1962, Ser. No. 176,368 Qlaims.(Cl. 113-120) Seamless metal bottles, for example aerosol bottles, canbe manufactured by first producing by impact extrusion a cup-shapedhollow body in which that end which provides the bottle opening isbrought into the form of a bottle neck by drawing it in or reducing it,the neck being beaded if required. Basically, this method does not offerany difficulties. However, difiiculties arise when, for example, themetal bottles are to be lacquered inside and printed on the outside.

The procedure previously adopted has been first to finish-shape thebottles and then carry out the necessary washing, internal lacqueringand printing. In this case, however, owing to the reduced bottle neck,both the necessary washing to remove grease remnants, the internallacquering and the printing are diflicult. It is not pos sible in thiscase to adopt the procedure used say with tubes, which are simply pushedon to a cylindrical mandrel and printed, but a complicated off setmandrel or pliers which hold the cans at the valve seat, as well as asupporting part applied against the base of the bottle, are required asabutments. In this way, plants operating fully automatically becomecomplicated and susceptible to breakdowns so that the working rate isimpaired.

Moreover, it is not readily possible to lacquer the bottles at therounded portion, i.e. the drawn-in shoulder. This must be done eitherwith separate shaped rolls or by subsequently spraying the roundedportion, it being necessary to proceed very carefully so that the beadedbottle neck serving as a seal is not covered and sprayed with paint inaddition. Furthermore, it is not possible to print on the drawn-inshoulder and, therefore, this has heretofore had to be left bare or onlylacquered in a single colour.

Printing on the cup-shaped body before the final shaping has notpreviously been readily possible, as the tools customarily employed fordrawin in the bottle neck and heading result in frictional heating ofthe bottle neck so that the lacquer is damaged. Moreover, there is adanger that the lacquer of the printed bottles will be damaged orscratched when they are conveyed from one treatment position to theother during the shaping process.

The object of the invention is to provide a method of producing seamlessmetal bottles, more particularly aerosol bottles, in which a cup-shapedhollow body preferably produced by impact extrusion is brought intobottle shape by drawing in that end which contains the opening and isalso lacquered and/or printed, and in which the foregoing problems donot arise.

According to one feature of the invention, a cup-shaped hollow body isfirst lacquered and/or printed on, then that end which provides theopening is drawn in in several stages by means of rectilinearly movedshaping elements and, if required, the base is rendered convex and,finally, the formed bottle neck is cut to length and headed by means oftools which are also moved rectilinearly.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method by which theshaping of the hollow bodies, namely both the shaping of that end whichcontains the opening and the shaping of the base, can beeffected in asimple and economic manner, as well as the provision of an apparatus forcarrying the method into effect.

dddhhlh Patented July 27, 1%65 According to another feature of theinvention, the cupshaped hollow body is introduced for further shapinginto a workpiece holder receiving it in a vertical position, whereuponthe base of the hollow body is then rendered convex in the openworkpiece holder by means of a shaping element and, finally, the hollowbody is clamped by closing the workpiece holder and held by the latteruntil its shaping is complete. In this way, the finish-shaping of thehollow body can be effected without the necessity of intermediateconveyance between different workpiece holders.

According to a further feature of the invention, apparatus for carryingthe method of the invention into effect has two horizontally disposedcarrying plates which are arranged coaxially in a relatively rotatablemanner and are also adapted to be removed rectilinearly one towards theother, the upper one of said carrying plates serving to accommodate thetools and the lower one to accommodate workpiece holders receiving theworkpieces. Preferably, each of the workpiece holders arranged on thelower carrying plate contains a shaping element rendering the base ofthe hollow body convex and a clamping device which engages the hollowbody at its periphery and is closed only after the base has beenrendered convex.

It is advantageous to provide a plurality of similar tools for eachstage of the treatment for the purpose of working on a plurality ofworkpieces simultaneously.

An example of embodiment of the invention is described in detailhereinafter, by Way of example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic side view of an apparatus according to theinvention,

FIGURE 2a is a detail view of one of the shaping tools used for thedrawing-in process,

FIGURES 2b and 2c illustrate the hollow body to be shaped before working(0) and after working (b) with the shaping tool of FIGURE 2a.

FIGURE 3 shows a holding device for receiving the workpieces during thevarious treating or working operations, FIGURE 3a showing the hollowbody inserted, but not clamped, and FIGURE 3b showing the hollow bodyclamped after the base thereof has been shaped,

FIGURE 4a is a detail view of the tool for effecting heading of thebottle neck,

FiGURES 4b to 4e show the shaping of the bottle neck during theindividual stages of the heading process,

FIGURE 5 illustrates diagrammatically the interchangeable method offixing a carrying plate accommodating the tool holders, and

FIGURES 6a, 6b, and 6c show a device for cutting the bottle neck in sideview, longitudinal section and during the cutting operation.

In FIGURE 1, the reference 10 designates a carrying plate whichaccommodates a workpiece holder 11 and is adapted to be rotated by meansof a motor 12 and worm gearing 13. A plurality of workpiece holders 11is arranged, evenly distributed, on the carrying plate 10 and to themthere are fed in any known manner the hollow bodies 14 which, forexample, are produced in an impact extrusion press and then degreasedand lacquered and/ or printed. The workpiece holders 11 are arranged,evenly distributed, substantially at the periphery of the carrying plate10, and they hold the individual workpieces 14 until the latter havebeen finally shaped.

The carrying plate it! is adapted to be indexed by means of the motor 12and the toothed wheel gearing 13 in each instance through an anglecorresponding to the spacing of the workpiece holders 11. After eachindexing movement, the carrying plate 10 is fixed by means of centeringdevices (not shown).

Above the carrying plate 10 there is arranged coaxially therewith acarrying plate 15 on which the diagrammatically illustrated tools 16 aremounted. On the carrying plate there is arranged a motor 17 which isdesigned to drive a cutting or milling device 18 which eifects cuttingof the bottle neck to a certain length. The carrying plate 15 with theclamped tools 16 and the motor 17 is mounted interchangeably on asupport 19. Devices are provided for ensuring accurate central fixing ofthe carrying plate 15 on the support 19.

The support 19 is connected to a piston rod 20 which is moved up anddown by means of a piston 21 of a hydraulic press 22.

The apparatus operates in the following manner:

The workpieces 14 are fed to the apparatus at one point as cupshapedhollow bodies. Thus, at this point, a cup 14 is inserted in eachinstance in that workpiece holder 11 which happens to be located at saidpoint. The carrying plate 15 is thereupon moved towards the carryingplate 10 by means of the hydraulic press 22, whereby the tools 16 comeinto contact with the workpieces 14.

FIGURE 3a and 3b show a workpiece holder 11 to a larger scale. Theworkpiece holder contains a shaping element 23 in which the hollow body14 is placed. Furthermore, a clamping device 24 is provided which is notclosed until after the first stage of the treatment, that is when thebase of the hollow body 14 has been rendered upwardly convex by axialpressure against the shaping element 23. The shaping element 23 isformed with a conical lead in so that, despite the fact that theclamping device 24 is still open, the hollow body 14 is not forcedolf-centre of the workpiece holder.

The drawing-in or reducing tools 16 consist of dies by which the upperend of the cup 14 providing the opening thereof is gradually shaped in aplurality of stages into a bottle neck. After each lowering of thecarrying plate 15 on to the workpieces 14, it is raised again and thecarrying plate 10 is unlocked and rotated by one indexing division orspace, so that a particular workpiece 14 comes into contact with thetool provided for the next stage of the treatment when the tool carrier16 is next lowered.

FIGURE 2a shows such a tool. It contains a shaping element 25 and acentral mandrel 26, against which elements the bottle neck is pressed.FIGURE 2c shows a hollow body 14 before shaping and FIGURE 211 aftershaping by the tool of FIGURE 2a. Those surfaces of the mandrel 26 andof the shaping element 25 of the rectilinearly moved tool which comeinto contact with the hollow body 14 are made smooth so that thefriction on the hollow body is slight and the adhering lacquer is notdamaged.

Preferably, a plurality of tools is provided for each stage of thetreatment, so that a plurality of workpieces can be operated onsimultaneously. In this way, production can be raised without increasingthe working rate. This is particularly important, since a high workingrate must be avoided if the workpieces 14 are not to be shapedinaccurately or the lacquer thereon damaged.

After the bottle neck has been drawn in, it is cut to a predeterminedlength by means of a tool 18 driven by the motor 17 (FIGURES 1 and 6).The cutting tool 18 comprises a milling cutter 31 and a rotary guide 32which is moved only rectilinearly with respect to the bottle neck 29after it has been introduced, so that relatively slight friction occursat the bottle neck 29 and the protective internal lacquer adhering tothe neck is not damaged. The spindle 33 carrying the milling cutter hasa reduced diameter part 36 at its lower end and carries the cylindricalguide 32 which is easily rotatable on a ball bearing 34.

A packing provided on the guide 32 prevents cuttings reaching the insideof the bottle, which cuttings, if the bottle is to be used as an aerosolbottle, could later block the valve and make the bottle unusable. On theupward movement of the tool 18 after the cutting operation, the cuttingscontained in the space 37 are brought out of the bottle neck by thepacking 35. After the packing 35 has left the bottle neck, it graduallyassumes the speed of the spindle 33, whereby the cuttings are thrownoutwardly by centrifugal force. Preferably, a suction device (not shown)is provided which carries the cuttings away.

The bottle neck, which has now been cut, is beaded by means of a device27 also held by the carrying plate 15 and illustrated separately inFIGURE 4. This device likewise performs only rectilinear movements andshapes the bottle neck as shown in FIGURES 4b to 4e. The surface 28which contacts the bottle neck is so machined that it producesrelatively slight friction and the lacquer adhering to the bottle neck29 is not damaged.

After a revolution of the carrying plate 10, the finishshaped bottle 14is removed in any known manner from the workpiece holder 11 on which itis mounted. Preferably, after the finished bottles 14 have been removed,they are delivered directly to a packing machine in which a plurality ofbottles lying one behind the other are wrapped in paper, so that theyform together a roll having a length corresponding to the number ofbottles contained therein. These separate rolls can be packed in simplemanner in cartons or the like so that division of the cartons intocompartments which has previously been customary is not required.

As an alternative to the hydraulic press illustrated in the drawings, apress of another type, for example a mechanical press, can if desired beemployed to move the tool carrier 16.

In order to enable the apparatus to be changed over rapidly to hollowbodies of different diameters, the carrying plate 15 for the tools 16 ispreferably mounted interchangeably on the support 19 of the press 22, asshown 1n FIGURE 5. The exact position of the carrying plate 15 isensured by means of guide pins 29, and fixing is efiected by means ofscrews 30.

We claim:

1. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(0) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) moving shaping tools solely in a direction parallel to the axisthereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tosubstantially reduce the diameter at said open end, said diameterreducing step being performed exclusively by tools moving in saiddirection parallel to the axis of said tubular member.

2. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(0) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

( pplying axial pressure to said closed end against a shaping element torender said closed end upwardly convex,

(e) clamping said tubular member in said holder to prevent relativeaxial movement therebetween, and' (f) moving shaping tools solely in adirection parallel to the axis thereof into contact with the open end ofthe tubular member to substantially reduce the diameter at said openend, said diameter reducing step being performed exclusively by toolsmoving in said direction parallel to the axis of said tubular member.

3. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(0) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) moving shaping tools solely in a direction parallel to the axisthereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tosubstantially reduce the diameter at said open end, said diameterreducing step being performed exclusively by tools moving in saiddirection parallel to the axis of said tubular member,

(e) moving a cutter carrying guide towards the said tubular membersolely in a direction parallel to the axis thereof into said reduceddiameter open end,

(f) rotating said cutter to cut said reduced diameter open end to apredetermined length.

4. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(c) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) moving a first shaping tool into contact with the open end of thetubular member to substantially reduce the diameter at said open end,

(e) moving a second shaping tool solely in a direction parallel to theaxis thereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tobead the edge of said reduced diameter open end, said beading step beingperformed exclusively by tools moving in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular member.

5. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(c) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) applying axial pressure to said closed end against a shaping elementto render said closed end upwardly convex,

(e) clamping said tubular member in said holder to prevent relativeaxial movement therebetween,

(f) moving a first shaping tool into contact with the open end of thetubular member to substantially reduce the diameter at said open end,

(g) moving a second shaping tool solely in a direction parallel to theaxis thereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tobead the edge of said reduced diameter open end, said beading step beingperformed exclusively by tools moving in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular member.

6. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the other surface of said tubular member,

(c) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) moving a first shaping tool into contact with the open end of thetubular member to substantially reduce the diameter at said open end,

(e) moving a cutter carrying guide towards the said tubular membersolely in a direction parallel to the axis thereof into said reduceddiameter open end,

(f) rotating said cutter to out said reduced diameter open end to apredetermined length,

(g) moving a second shaping tool solely in a direction parallel to theaxis thereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tobead the edge of said reduced diameter open end, said beading step beingperformed exclusively by tools moving in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular member.

7. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(c) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) moving shaping tools solely in a direction parallel to the axisthereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tosubstantially reduce the diameter at said open end, said diameterreducing step being performed exclusively by tools moving in saiddirection parallel to the axis of said tubular member,

(e) moving a second shaping tool solely in a direction parallel to theaxis thereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tohead the edge of said reduced diameter open end, said beading step beingperformed exclusively by tools moving in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular member.

8. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

(0) placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignmentwith the axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with saidopen end facing the shaping tools,

(d) applying axial pressure to said closed end against a shaping elementto render said closed end upwardly convex,

(e) clamping said tubular member in said holder to prevent relativeaxial movement therebetween,

(f) moving shaping tools solely in a direction parallel to the axisthereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tosubstantially reduce the diameter at said open end, said diameterreducing step being performed exclusively by tools moving in saiddirection parallel to the axis of said tubular member,

(g) moving a second shaping tool solely in a direction parallel to theaxis thereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tobead the edge of said reduced diameter open end, said beading step beingperformed exclusively by tools moving in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular member.

9. A method of making a seamless container having a body portion ofuniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising the steps of:

(a) forming by extrusion a seamless uniform diameter tubular member openat one end thereof and closed at the other end thereof,

(b) applying a protective coating to the tubular member, said coatingbeing applied at least to the outer surface of said tubular member,

() placing the coated tubular member in a holder in axial alignment withthe axis of shaping tools to be applied to said member, with said openend facing the shaping tools,

(d) moving shaping tools solely in a direction parallel to the axisthereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tosubstantially reduce the diameter at said open end, said diameterreducing step being performed exclusively by tools moving in saiddirection parallel to the axis of said tubular member,

(e) moving a cutter carrying guide towards the said tubular membersolely in a direction parallel to the axis thereof into said reduceddiameter open end,

(f) rotating said cutter to cut said reduced diameter open end to apredetermined length,

(g) moving a second shaping tool solely in a direction parallel to theaxis thereof into contact with the open end of the tubular member tobead the edge of said reduced diameter open end, said beading step beingperformed exclusively by tools moving in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular member.

10. Apparatus for making seamless metal containers having a body portionof uniform diameter and a neck portion of substantially reduced diametercomprising:

(a) a first carrier disk provided with a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced means for holding, in vertical disposition, a uniform diametertubular member which is closed at its bottom end and open at its topend,

(b) said holding means including a shaping part which confronts and isdesigned to shape the closed bottom of the tubular member into aconfiguration complementary to that of the shaping part upon theapplication of pressure applied axially of the tubular member,

(c) and said holding means also including a clamping means for holdingthe tubular member exterior-1y thereof,

(d) a second carrier disk provided with a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced tools, said second carrier disk being disposed above said firstcarrier disk and being mounted for downward rectilinear movement towardsaid first carrier disk whereby the tools on said second carrier diskmove downward upon said tubular members in a direction parallel to theaxis of said tubular members,

(e) one of said tools in said second carrier being a milling cutter forcutting the open end of the tubular member, said milling cutter having arotary guide with a packing for engagement with the inside wall of thetubular member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,013,654 9/35Hothersall l53-48 2,298,366 10/42 Gladfelter et al. 1137 2,359,775 10/44McManus et al 113120 2,733,502 2/56 Van Leer et al 29528 2,755,839 7/56Garrock et al 15348 3,029,507 4/62 Gaggini 29534 3,033,264 5/62l-Iendrickson 153-2 3,130,698 4/64 Knowles 153-2 CHARLES W. LANI-IAM,Primary Examiner.

NEDWIN BERGER, Examiner.

1. A METHOD OF MAKING A SEAMLESS CONTAINER HAVING A BODY PORTION OFUNIFORM DIAMETER AND A NECK PORTION OF SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED DIAMETERCOMPRISING THE STEPS OF: (A) FORMING BY EXTRUSION OF A SEAMLESS UNIFORMDIAMETER TUBULAR MEMBER OPEN AT ONE END THEREOF AND CLOSED AT THE OTHEREND THEREOF, (B) APPLY A PROTECTIVE COATING TO THE TUBUALR MEMBER, SAIDCOATING BEING APPLIED AT LEAST TO THE OUTER SURFACE OF SAID TUBULARMEMBER, (C) PLACING THE COATED TUBULAR MEMBER IN A HOLDER IN AXIALALIGNMENT WITH THE AXIS OF SHAPING TOOLS TO BE